Samsung Calls Galaxy Note 4 Screen Gap a Feature, not a Flaw

By Jeff Gamet

Sep 30th, 2014 7:17 PM EDT

What do you get when your brand new tablet phone has a noticeable gap between the display and body? In the case of Samsung's Galaxy Note 4, you get a feature and not a flaw, and it's a feature that's going to grow over time.

Samsung says the Note 4's gap between the display and body is a feature, not a flaw

After seeing the demand for Apple's 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus, Samsung is hoping for similar success when it expands Galaxy Note 4 sales beyond South Korea, but may have some trouble thanks to complaints from customers about a gap around the display's glass surface big enough to hold a business card on edge. That may look like a design defect — or at least sloppy construction — but Samsung says that's just not so.

According to Samsung, the gap is "a necessary manufacturing feature and some minor rocking or vibration of parts may occur." Just to be clear: Samsung is saying it couldn't build this tablet phone with a display that fits tight, and the Note 4's components will slip and slide around like a bag filled with Jenga blocks.

Samsung's Note 4 manual also says, "Over time, friction between parts may cause this gap to expand slightly." Which means the gap that has early buyers upset now is only going to get bigger.

Openings into smartphones and tablets, like, say, a gap around the display, are a perfect place for dust, lint, and other little bits of debris to find their way inside. Depending on how big the Note 4's gap gets, owners could conceivably face old school debugging, meaning they'll have to find ways to fish literal bugs out of their phones.

The upside is that it sounds like the Note 4's parts fit together loose enough to offer plenty of flex, which means Samsung won't have to deal with the embarrassment of a sleek phone design and a handful of customers complaining about the bends.